For Freedom’s Sake was launched with a commitment to bring our readers the best and most thoughtful analysis which will help you navigate through the fog of the political rhetoric that obfuscates the loss of our freedoms as government, of any stripe, encroaches upon them. In that vein, I must recommend that you read Dr. Peter Boettke’s blog entitled, “This Isn’t Socialism Where Headed To, But It May Very Well Be the Other 20th Century “ism.”’
Dr. Boettke does an outstanding job of providing a definition of socialism, a historical account of its political operation in Nazi Germany, a story of resistance against the government of Nazi Germany and its costs as well as he recommends two important books, “The Road to Serfdom” by F. A. Hayek and, “Omnipotent Government” by Ludwig Von Mises, with quotes, that will also provide a historical understanding of what we may be seeing played out before our very eyes.
Briefly, Dr. Boettke writes,
“…Mises’s “Omnipotent Government” and in particular the sections on the German economic model of national socialist policy. Our current policy path seems more along those lines, then outright expropriation of private property by the government. In the German model, Mises argued, private ownership was nominally maintained and the appearance of normal prices, wages and markets was kept. But in reality entrepreneurs were replaced by government appointed shop managers and the government dictated how the “capitalist” must use his funds and what wages workers must work for. Government effectively controlled production and distribution. “This is,” as Mises put it, “socialism in the outward guise of capitalism. Some labels of capitalistic market economy are retained but they mean something entirely different from what they mean in a genuine market economy.” (1944, p. 56)
“This may very well be the direction we are heading. Slippery slopes, unintended consequences, regime uncertainty, etc., these are the concepts you need to understand in order to make sense of our current economic problems. Bad economic ideas have produced bad economic policies which in turn has resulted in bad economic consequences. The “solution” is not to be found in more bad ideas and bad public policies even if promoted by an eloquent and charismatic political leader.”
